These questions and answers are from the press conference that was organized on the 19th of June 2012 by the newly formed Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, which finally ruptured from the then Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) after a 2 day long National Convention held in Kathmandu, Nepal. Chairman of the newly formed CPN-M, Comrade Kiran (Mohan Baidya) answered the questions raised by journalists during the press conference. There is a minor edit for clarity.

Thanks to Comrade Pooja ( http://kalishakti.info ) for taking her time to make this speech available in English.

Q: - How do you justify the formation of the new party? How should general people understand this?

A: - Communist party is a party for the benefit of the proletariat and the people. In the case of Nepal, the aim of a communist party remains to move forward, raising the issues of safeguarding national sovereignty; people's democracy and livelihood then ultimately leap towards socialism and communism. This is self-proven. In the process of attaining this aim we went through people’s war, and did considerable amount of work among and with the people. We built our base areas, practiced our newly formed people's power but then conciliation took place amidst as we moved forward to build a new Nepal.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t compromise, we should but while compromising, the act of abandoning our entire basis (achievements) has happened. The act of slipping down from our mission and objectives has happened. The dream we carried was of a constitutional assembly but where is the constitution? How did the constituent assembly function? Talking about people’s livelihood, how has the corruption been mounting-up? That fact is clearer. In the process of making a constitution there was an agreement to move forward institutionalizing the rights of the working class, indigenous people, ethnic minorities, women & dalit; including the rights of all oppressed class, region and gender but ditching all these primary issues of constitutional thematic committees it is apparent that ex-chairman, Prachanda surrendered everything to Congress & UML by forming a dispute resolution sub-committee under the constitutional committee.

In the process of making a constitution the question of ethnic-identity-based federalism is extremely important. Our party takes the decision of an ethnic-identity-based federalism while in process of restructuring the state Prachanda & Baburam joined their necks together with Congress-UML and agreed up on eleven anonymous federal states. The situation was that they were forced to take their decision back, as we and all others in the constituent assembly carried-out a signature collection campaign against their decision. They have failed to institutionalize ethnic-identity, it is important for us to do it.

Where are the perquisites for women and dalits? There have been serious betrayals on these issues. That is why we want to raise all these issues again. Not only that, we are also talking about issues of national sovereignty. Since the bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA) was signed, now the issues of water resources agreement and extradition treaty have come to surface.

The main thing is that there has been a wrong tendency to maneuver our party as a puppet of imperialism and expansionism; along with this all the core concept of the party including the guiding principal has been distorted. We are against this. We cannot let our party function as a puppet of imperialism, expansionism and feudalism. We had to revolt in order to safeguard people’s rights, interests and benefit. This is the main justification of the split.

Q: - In the past we have witnessed vicious confrontations between two factions after the split of Naxalite struggle in India. How are you cautious about bloodshed happening after the party split? What is your view on the question of the government?

A: - You raised the question of possible confrontation between two parties and the question of the Naxalite struggle in India, we are very cautious about this. There won't be any such confrontation from our side. We won't go into confrontation. It has been proven even in the course of history of our two-line struggle that we never exerted any physical force anywhere. Instead we have heard many cases of exertion of force by the Prachanda's group in places. During that time we alerted the concerned party to be serious on the matter.

Therefore, firstly what I want to assure you is that we will not be exerting any physical force anywhere from our side. Secondly, we have to be extremely aware. There has been talk with Prachanda and other people within his circle that we have to be very serious in these matters after separation of the party. Therefore, how to move forward is primarily dependent on Prachanda's group. Not to become serious in this matter and exert physical force is against the democratic norms, it is a dictatorship to exert force instead of seeking a solution to the problem through discussions and debates in a communist party. That is fascism. No one accept dictatorship and fascism, including us. In such a situation the masses will resist these acts.

There are two things on the issues of how to move forward with other parties. Firstly we have to initiate talks with all the parties and reach an agreement in any issue that can be agreed upon. If anybody raises an issue that is in favor of the nation and the people we must have to support that. We have been supportive so far and that will continue. It doesn't matter whether that be Congress-UML or a neo-revisionist camp, if they raise similar issues as we do, we support that but again the other important thing is that we should neither merge in the coalition of Congress-UML nor in the coalition of Baburam-Prachanda's coalition of neo-revisionism. We will carry forward an independent revolutionary line of Nepalese politics.

Q: - There are allegations that the monarchy assisted you to split the party and you have got close tie with Gyanendra, do you have RIM's support or not? Who played the role from the international community to split the party? Has the president got the right to dismiss the prime-minister, what is your say on this?

A: - Firstly, you raised the question of collaboration with Gyanendra, who told you this and where? Reveal the factual basis of this, substantiate and tell me. Secondly, in the process of a two-line struggle Baburam had accused Prachanda as pro-king and Prachanda had accused Baburam as pro-expansionist. This was documented in writing. Have you studied that written document or not? Did you understand that the pro-king and the pro-expansionist forces united together to attack us in the process of the two-line struggle? Thirdly, each and every political party has to have a capacity. That capacity means capacity of logical argument. When it’s not possible to annihilate someone through the means of factual arguments and debates then there will be malevolent attempts to label them as corrupt, to denigrate them through the means of conspiracy and deception. Fourthly, if look at our programs, we ask for establishment of people's federal republican state, emphasis on safeguarding the achievements of the ten years of the great people's war, let us look at things from a factual basis; when we look from this basis those baseless allegations bear no truth at all. This isn't anything but only false allegations hatched by the pro-Indian-expansionist elements.

Yes, we are in the RIM. There are many different parties in the RIM. You may even know what sort of discussions there are. Do you raise a question with the knowledge or without? We used to be involved in the decision making in the RIM. The RIM is actually not operative at this moment. Perhaps, you are trying to point to a particular party but we had fraternal relationship with all the parties involved in RIM and that continues.

Fraternal parties reserve some rights. Our communist party is a proletarian internationalist party. If any party involved in such an umbrella organization slips into the quagmire of opportunism then the other parties oppose this and the international community has clearly said that the Prachanda-Baburam gang has slipped into the quagmire of revisionism. Therefore, let's forget about RIM, any other genuine communist parties do not acknowledge that this gang is Marxist anymore. So, the issue of RIM etc. is totally nonsense.

Again, power & greed; look at the agenda– the only and one agenda of Congress-UML is that the Baburam has to step down from the government. Probably this is a major cause of the dissolution of the constituent assembly without forging any political resolution. On the other hand, the only agenda of Baburam is that he has to retain power. So, these two camps are ready to abandon, and will abandon everything for power. Therefore, we are not in this controversy.

We are not in the row of their greed of power. As a tactic we have forwarded the agenda of multilateral roundtable conference. The so-called top leaders of these parties have become incapable to solve people's problems.

We have put forward the agenda of the United Interim Government, and we have said that the problem can be solved from there. Therefore, we won't involve in the corrupt power play of the government.

Protest at Rio+20
The Revolutionary Front for the Defense of the People – FRDDP (Brazil), repudiates the presence in our country of the revisionist traitor Baburam Bhattarai, current Prime Minister of Nepal, at the UN conference “Rio +20,” held in the city of Rio de Janeiro between 20 and 22 June 2012.

Bhattarai in collusion with Puspa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), betrayed the aspirations of the Nepalese people for a new society to put an end to
centuries of exploitation and oppression of feudalism, bureaucratic capitalism and imperialism.

The Nepalese people, who had been cruelly oppressed for centuries by feudalism and imperialism, took the path of armed struggle under the direction of
revolutionary Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), in a heroic People’s War in 1996.

For ten years the people’s war developed greatly, building a new power of workers and peasants, delivering and dividing land to the peasants in large parts of the country, representing a living hope for all the Nepalese people and the people of the world.

However, after these great advances, faced with the pressures of imperialism and reaction, the direction of the CPN(Maoist), headed by Prachanda and Bhattarai, betrayed the revolution and completely capitulated to imperialism and the bourgeoisie, and in 2006, made infamous peace agreements, under the baton of the UN to disarm the people and its glorious People’s Liberation Army, ending the glorious revolution initiated in 1996.
Prachanda and Bhattarai abandoned Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and joined revisionism, converted the Maoist revolutionary party into a reformist and revisionist “Unified Communist Party of Nepal-CPN (Maoist).”

These reformist leaders of the UCPM(M) betrayed the desire of the Nepalese people for a new society, exchanging, through agreements with imperialism, the struggle for a popular new democratic republic, into one more big government under the bourgeoisie and imperialism–exploitative and oppressive against the people–this time led by Bhattarai as prime minister.

Bhattarai, Prachanda, now equivalent to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, Dilma and Lula in Brazil–real undercover agents of imperialism, that under the mask of “left” and “popular,” cheat and deceive the masses, in attempt to divert them from the revolutionary path, while committing the worst crimes against the proletariat and the people.

Protest at Rio+20
We reject the imperial conclave of Rio +20 in our country, where imperialist power agreements are made to prey upon and plunder the people of the world under the slogan of “sustainable development”.

We condemn with class hatred imperialism and all reaction, which is inseparable from the revisionism and opportunism of the lackeys to imperialism played by Bhattarai, Chavez, Evo, etc. Dilma.

We proclaim: long live the revolutionary struggle of the people, the current struggles of heroic national liberation wars in the world, Maoists led by communist parties in India, Turkey, Peru, Philippines.
We reaffirm before the proletariat of our country and the world: the People’s War, directed by Maoist Communist Parties, is the way for the emancipation of the peoples of the world fighting imperialism and revisionism.

Down with all revisionism and opportunism!
Down with Baburam Bhattarai, revisionist and traitor!
Long live the people’s wars in India, Turkey, Philippines, Peru!

Long live Marxism Leninism Maoism! Long live the People’s War!
Revolutionary Front for the Defense of the Rights of Peoples – Brazil
Frente Revolucionária de Defesa dos Direitos do Povos – FRDDP – Brasil
frenterevolucionaria_brasil@yahoo.com.br

We will not be party to utilizing Plaid Cymru's Welsh Nationalism to put a set of bureaucrat capitalists in power in Wales to better serve the Eurocrats of Brussels rather than London

Welsh Socialist Republicans reject the anti English nationalist fringe with their separatism and closet racism.

The Welsh Socialist Republicans believes the only class in Wales which is capable of leading Wales to the new democracy of autonomous self government in Wales is the working class.

That is true Welsh Independence !

Our Welsh national struggle is a class struggle.

In the struggle for national and social liberation in Wales we need to enlist the support of English, Scottish and the Irish working class and other national minorities.

Organizationally we seek to strengthen ties with working class organizations throughout the British Isles to support working class power in Wales, as this will also give a base area for their class struggles against the British State.

We are Welsh Socialist Republicans with the working class spirit of the Miners Next Step of 1912 we believe in the power of our class the working class to change Wales and the world.

Long live the spirit of the Great Unrest of 1910-12 - Long Live The Great Unrest of 2012 and Wales Next Step – Welsh Socialist Republicanism.

Statement of the Great Unrest 2012 Organizing Group for A Welsh Socialist Republican Party

British Labour MP Michael Meacher has slammed Prime Minister David Cameron's new welfare crackdown, depriving hundreds of thousands of young people of their housing benefits and forcing them to live with their parents.

Moreover, the Independent reported that in an upcoming speech on welfare, Cameron is to announce measures such as abolishing most of the £1.8 billion in housing benefits paid to 380,000 individuals under the age of 25 and forcing a hard core of unemployed to do community work after two years or lose all their benefits.

This comes as former British Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws says the government should cut even further into public spending despite the already huge pressure the austerity measures have inflicted on the people.

March to Madrid from Asturias is underway.
Some of the marchers have assured reporters that they "hearts sink" when away from Asturias but were happy to receive the solidarity of the inhabitants of mining regions.

On the other hand, unions march organizers today announced the opening of a checking account (BBVA 0182 2370 43 0201528433) to receive financial contributions in order to keep their protests after 28 days of indefinite strike.

Democracy and Class Struggle says Segundo Menendez Collar is our class brother he speaks for us all "when things are going well you fight when it is just ok you fight twice as hard - when things are really tough you fight and fight and fight some more".

With comrades like Segundo Menendez Collar we can win in the Asturias and the World.

Miners in northern Spain's Santa de Sil town have been on strike for almost two months against government's decision to slash a coal subsidy as part of its austerity programme.

The prison issued a statement this morning that Marian had been transferred to hospital. She remains in the prison.

They had attempted to move her to a psychiatric unit as a prisoner but this requiires invoking powers under the mental health act - the prison medical officer has already given evidence last week that this course of action would be counterproductive and inappropriate as she is not psychotic.

She is suffering from trauma created by her environment of incarceration.

The chief medical officer has now sought to over ride this evidence today before the UN visit on Monday - to transfer her to the psychiatric hospital without her informed consent adds another dimension to the violation of her rights - her family is issuing a statement and I believe her lawyers will be trying to get into court today. So maybe we are at make or break.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Punish the Culprit Upper Caste Brahmanical Forces Including their Abettors, the Ruling Party Leaders like

RDF Hails the Exemplary Courage of Dalit People of Lakshimpeta for Putting Up Brave Fight to Own the Land.

Rally Around All Dalit and Adivasi People’s Struggles for Self-Assertion and Dignity

Develop Self-Defense to Protect the Movement and its Gains Against Murdours Attacks of the Brahmanical Forces.

Yet another massacre on dalit people in Andhra Pradesh shows that the landowning castes still turn violent when dalits assert themselves to take over land. Four dalit people were hacked to death, and about 30 dalit men and women were critically injured in a well-orchestrated attack by Turpu Kapu backward caste brahmanical forces in Lakshimpeta village of Vangara block in Srikakulam District on 12 June 2012. The brahmanical forces targeted 60 dalit families in the village with crude and brutal weapons like bombs, sickles, hatchets and axes supported and patronised by the ruling Congress Party leaders of the region. Burada Sundara Rao (45), Chitri Appadu (35), Nivarti Venkati (65) and Nivarti Sangameshu (40) died in the bloodbath. Bodduru Papaiah died in King George Hospital, Vishakhapatnam on 20 June while taking treatment. With his death, the number of people killed in the massacre increased to five.

Land was acquired by government for Madduvalasa reservoir built on two tributaries of Nagavali river, Suvarnamukhi and Vegavathi which, while displacing thousands of people irrigated 15000 acres of land. In Lakshimpeta village, after the construction of the reservoir, 240 acres of land intermittently comes out of the submergence when water dries up. As the land turns fertile, rich crops were being raised on it with profitable cultivation in the past five years. The government paid a compensation of two lakh rupees per acre to Kapu land owners and settled 190 Kapu families and 60 dalit families about seven kilometres away from the reservoir. The dalit families were not paid any compensation or given employment though they were also displaced and resettled except for four families, who had assigned lands—only 40 thousand rupees per acre were paid to each of these four dalit families. Meanwhile one each from 40 families of the Kapu caste was provided with employment in the reservoir office departments in addition to compensation amount for land. All 250 families were settled in pacca houses built by the government. Having been deprived of land for centuries, the dalits of Lakshimpeta, as in most other cases, aspired to take over the unaffected land under the project and they have been asserting their rights over the land which now falls under the control of the government.

As the 240 acres of land—that once belonged to Kapu community became government land after compensation was being paid—came out of submergence every now and then, 180 acres of land has been cultivated by the Kapu families while only 60 acres by 60 dalit families in the last five years. Kapu community in the village claimed that the entire land belongs to them as it once belonged them. Dalits argued with the local revenue administration that they should be allowed to cultivate this land as it was now government land.

The local administration maintained silence as the Kapu caste people were supported by powerful lobbies within the ruling party from the state to the bloc levels within the same caste. Both sides of the dispute approached the court for justice. The court as usual stayed the cultivation from both sides till its judgment. This triggered fury among the Kapu backward community and they blamed squarely the dalit community for the court order, though both communities had approached the court. The former local block president of Congress Party, Botsa Vasudevanaidu instigated the Kapus against the dalit people with the active encouragement from PCC chief, Botsa Satyanarayana. Congress leaders like Botsa Satyanarayana, Dharmana Prasada Rao (Minister for Roads and Buildings in Andhra Pradesh Government) from North Andhra Region have become the powerful agents of land grab in the region for thermal power plants, industrial corridor projects and mining. They are maintaining land mafia’s and have acquired thousands of acres of for their own families. They are responsible for the police firings and state-sponsored killings of the people, who are protesting against land grab in the region. They are the powerful political leaders of the region who are in real sense representatives of globalisation and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in the region.

As the tension in the village grew, the government put up a police picket in the village, instead of solving the issue and the bloc has been placed under the atrocitiy-proned area. This shows such an attack as the one on dalits on 12 June has been expected to happen. In these circumstances, the government itself is directly responsible for the massacre of dalits. On June 12, majority of police personnel at the picket were sent away on by-election duty. The police forces returned to the village only after giving enough time to the caste chauvinists to carry out the massacre unhindered. History testifies to this set pattern of conduct of the state forces as every time they remained mute witnesses to the upper caste brahmanical fascist attacks on dalits. In fact the India state forces like police, paramilitary and army always either sided with upper caste big landing owning communities or stayed as onlookers over the atrocities as they represented the interests of the brahmanical upper caste Indian state.

As the dalit people were not prepared to face the brutal attack from the brahmanical casteist forces, they either prayed their attackers to leave them or couldn’t move away to safety. The motivated and calculated nature of the attackers was evident from their preparedness to strike on the dalits fatally. All the victims targeted were the main bread-winners of their respective families. All of them were mainly landless peasants.

The infuriated dalits of Lakshimpeta refused to bury the dead for the next three days as the government did not arrest the culprits and their abettors, the kingpins in the massacre and the ruling parties’ leaders. The dalit people protested the government’s inaction placing the dead bodies of their kith and kin in front of the village. The administration did not use SC and ST Atrocities Act against the culprits and their abettors till all dalit and democratic forces raised their voices in protest. A week after when the law was evoked, it was used against small insignificant elements among the culprits, leaving out safely the main abettors and political leaders like Botsa Vasudeva Naidu, Botsa Satyanarayana and others.

A national convention of the revolutionary faction of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) successfully held on June 16-18, 2012 concluded amid inaugural session, closed session and concluding session in the premises of Sherpa Sewa Samaj building in Bouddha, Kathmandu. The programmes run in the historic national convention in which several important decisions have been taken are as follows.

1.1. Inaugural session:

2.Conducted by comrade C. P. Gajurel, secretary of the UCPN (Maoist), a grand inaugural session, in which there was a huge participation of the masses along with party general secretary comrade Badal, standing committee members comrade Dev Gurung and comrade Netra Bikram Chand, politburo members, central committee members and members of the central advisory committee, was held under the chair of vice chairman comrade Kiran.

3.The inaugural session began with lively and enthusiastic singing of the International by Samana cultural troupe.

4.A one-minute silence was observed to pay emotional tributes to martyrs, who attained martyrdom in the glorious People’s War and various other people’s movements.

5.Vice Chairman comrade Kiran formally inaugurated the convention by lighting a traditional oil-fed lamp and delivered a speech shedding light on the need to build a new type of communist party by breaking relationship with the opportunist group.

6.Standing committee member comrade Netra Bikram Chand (Biplab) delivered a welcome speech and shed light on the significance of the convention.

7.Chairman of All Nepal Dalit Liberation Front comrade Tilak Pariyar, chairman of Madhesi Liberation Front comrade Krishnadev Singh Danuwar, chairperson of All Nepal Women’s Association (Revolutionary) comrade Jayapuri Ghartimagar, chairman of Federation of All Nepal Indigenous Nationalities comrade Suresh Alemagar, chairman of the Association of Families of Disappeared during the People’s War comrade Ekraj Bhandari, comrade Parbat on behalf of the association of wounded and disabled fighters during People’s War etc. delivered their speeches wishing for the success of the convention.

8.The inaugural session was, then, declared concluded.

9.2. Closed Session:

Chaired by comrade Mohan Baidya ‘Kiran’, the senior chairman of our party, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), and conducted by the general secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’, the closed session of the national convention of the revolutionary faction of our great and glorious party, was started from the early morning. In the closed session, discussion and deliberation were held on the proposed agenda in a democratic atmosphere and the decisions taken are as follows:

1.Comrade Kiran presented the political report on behalf of the central committee and shed light on it in brief.

2.Politburo member Pampha Bhusal read out the political report.

3.Standing committee member Dev Gurung presented the interim constitution of the party.

4.Politburo member Hitman Shakya ‘Suman’ announced the central committee decision of dividing the participants in 21 groups to systematise discussion on the political report and party’s interim constitution and accordingly group-wise discussion proceeded.

5.The team leaders of different groups presented the conclusion of the discussion and their suggestions in the Convention. Comrade Prithivi Karki from group one, Comrade Sharada Pokhrel from group two, comrade Mousam from group three, comrade Roshan Janakpuri from group four, comrade Suvas from group five, comrade Dhiran from group six, comrade Laxmi Mudbari from group seven, comrade Sudip from group eight, comrade Birgunj from group nine, comrade Gunaraj Lohani from group ten, comrade Ajit Singh from group eleven, comrade Indrajit Tharu from group twelve, comrade Akhanda from group thirteen, comrade Gambhir from group fourteen, comrade Sarad Singh Bhandari from group fifteen, comrade Ishwar Chandra Gyawali from group sixteen, comrade Laxman Pant from group seventeen, comrade Ramdip Acharya from group eighteen, comrade Ekraj Bhandari from group nineteen, comrade Udaya Chalaune from group twenty, comrade Hasta Bahadur KC from group twenty-one presented the views and suggestions of their respective groups on the political report and the interim constitution in which there was general agreement in the basic spirit and essence of the political report.

6.Following the presentation of suggestions from different groups, a meeting of the central committee of the ideological faction was held and it decided to respect the opinions and views presented by different groups and accordingly enrich the political report and the interim constitution by incorporating important suggestions.

7.Based on the position of central committee, vice chairman comrade Kiran presented his clarification on the political report. Similarly, standing committee member comrade Dev Gurung presented necessary clarification on the interim constitution.

8.General Secretary comrade Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ placed the political report and interim constitution for adoption before the national Convention. And the National Convention adopted both the proposals unanimously.

i) The salient features and the conclusion of the political report can be presented as follows.

•Firstly, the report has analyzed the present national situation. The main reasons behind the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly without writing constitution are said to be the inaction and incompetence of the principal leaders of the big parties in addition to the domestic and foreign reactionary conspiracy. Admitting that the contradiction between comprador, bureaucratic bourgeoisie and feudal class and Indian expansionism at one pole and the broad Nepalese people at the other is the principal contradiction, the political report has, thus, stressed on the need to raise strong voice in defence of national independence.

Similarly, analyzing the international situation, it is stated that the contradiction between the imperialism and the oppressed nations is the principal contradiction at present. In this course, the report says that the United States of America and other imperialist countries have undergone economic crisis; it has had serious negative impact on the life of the people all across the world and it has hinted that this situation is leading to create a multi-polar world. And accepting that the subjective forces are weak compared to the objective situation, it has laid special emphasis on the need to create that kind of strength on the part of genuine revolutionary communist parties in the world.

•The report has summed up the events developed after the initiation of great People’s War, the party task and revolution. They are as follows:

1.Even though the policy that the Second National Conference had adopted vis-à-vis the all party conference, interim government and writing of the constitution under its leadership was basically correct as a tactic, but the report has drawn up a conclusion that it had opened up the door for the party to get entrapped in opportunism and it has concluded that the naming of the series of ideas developed in the form of centralized expression of the collective leadership in the form of Prachanda Path has been proved to be wrong through practice.

2. In the draft proposal of Democracy of the 21st century, the Central Committee had accepted that the role of friendly parties will be competitive not only cooperative. But in course of peace talk, it seemed that party started to compete politically with the other forces, which are not friendly. So it has been concluded that the main objective of presenting that proposal in the Central Committee was to give up the goal of people’s democratic and proletariat state power. Also, it has been concluded that it is necessary to develop democracy in the Communist Party, People’s Liberation Army and the New State.

3. In the backdrop when the democratic republic adopted as a tactic by Chunwang meeting has turned into strategy and showing the Chunwang position that the analysis of imperialism by Lenin and Mao has lagged behind, the strategic adoption of the old parliamentarian politics by saying that there is a need to develop strategy and tactic in a new way has been concluded to be wrong.

4. Without guaranteeing to establish the achievement of People’s War and Mass Movement, the hasty compromise reached in the agreements including 12-point, 8-point, Comprehensive Peace Agreement etc. has seriously hurt at the credence and value of the Nepalese revolution, people’s war and the Nepalese people’s expectation and aspiration of transformation. In the process of revolution agreements can and should be made. But, while doing so, one must not have betrayed the interest of the proletariat, masses of the people and revolution as well. However, the same has happened.

5. Party’s revolutionary faction has been working hard to correct every mistake, weakness and deviation and in this respect the conventions and the meetings including in Kharipati and Palungtar have played important role in this regard.

6. The creation of People’s Liberation Army, establishment of base areas and people’s government, role played by workers, peasants, women, indigenous nationalities and Dalits; and the awareness developed in this whole process are some of the major achievements we have gained and taking all these in a positive sense a conclusion has been drawn up that we have to move forward by standing upon this base.

7. One of the main decisions made by this historical national convention is that there is a serious right neo-revisionist deviation in both Prachanda and Baburam. Admitting that they had played a positive role in the course of revolution and the great people’s war, a conclusion has been drawn up that they have undergone a serious deviation in the later period. This kind of deviation has surfaced in every realm of theory, politics, philosophy, strategy, tactics and conduct as well. In the situation when this deviation has been manifested in rightist liquidationism, class and national capitulationism and when the party has been changing its colour it has been decided that the formation of a new type of the communist party is a must. And, realizing the fact that there are several revolutionary comrades within this neo-revisionist group, we have taken up decision to appeal all of them to be a part of the revolutionary current by rebelling from such opportunism.

8. It has been decided to organise Party Congress on the coming February 12, 2013. Also it has been decided to keep the door for unity open till the Party Congress if the leadership of the neo-revisionist group corrects the mistakes and transforms oneself.

9. The convention has decided to defend the present achievements like republic, federalism and secularism. And in the present situation when the country is still in a semi-feudal, semi-colonial and neo-colonial condition, admitting that the need to make a new democratic revolution in Nepal is a must, the convention has decided to go along the process of revolution. In the present context, the establishment of People’s Federal Republic and the question of defending National independence have been adopted as the main political tactics.

10. When the dreams of workers, peasants, women, Dalits, indigenous nationalities and the masses of the oppressed region manifested in the great people’s war, mass movements, Madhesh movements and the same conducted by indigenous nationalities and the masses from the oppressed region have not been fulfilled and when the domestic and foreign reactionaries and also the opportunists from the party have betrayed the process of writing constitution, a decision has been taken to march ahead along the direction of preparation of Nepalese revolution through people’s insurrection by taking up the issues of class emancipation, the federalism with identity, inclusive proportional representation, privilege and the prerogative etc.

11. Paying attention to the worthlessness of the reinstatement and re-election of the CA in the present context when the CA has been dissolved, it has been decided that the tactic of All Party Round Table Assembly, United Interim Government and the new political way out through this is the correct tactic and it should be made complementary to the main tactic of People’s Federal Republic and the defence of national independence.

12. By way of waging ideological struggle against neo-revisionism, the convention has taken decision of organising a systematic, disciplined and revolutionary party, preparing a code of conduct from the CC and firmly implementing it and systematizing people’s volunteers and mass organisations. Also, a decision has been taken to build a united front comprising of the forces including patriots, republicans, leftists and pro-federalism forces.

13. Decisions have been taken to wage struggle for organising Roundtable Assembly, building United Interim Government, developing immediate tactics for the new political way out, defending national independence, providing full respite to the martyr’s families, making public the fighters disappeared by the state during people’s war, conducting resistance struggle against corrupted and comprador elements, resolving the burning problems of people’s livelihood and controlling price-hike and corruption.

14. The main aspects of the party’s interim constitution adopted by the Convention are as follows:

Thursday, June 21, 2012

This cartoon by Ferran Martín argues that Spanish law enforcement officials will crack down on protesters more readily if protests are passive and peaceful, referring to those staged by students and the "indignants" over the past year.

The cartoon on the right shows law enforcement officials running away to avoid conflict as miners react more aggressively.

Police running away from Mining Town of Cinera - solidarity with Spanish Miners.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Democracyand Class Struggle is publishing this article on the Asturian Commune of 1934 for comrades to have some background to the significance of the current miners strike in the Asturias in 2012. It is written from an Anarchist comrades perspective and not from the perspective of revolutionary maoism.

The Workers’ Alliance sealed on 28th March 1934 was an agreement between the (anarcho-syndicalist) CNT and (trade unionist) UGT, later joined by the PSOE (Socialist Party), the BOC(Worker-Peasant Bloc) and their youth organisations, the Communist Left and later the Communist Party. The Alliance intended to set up local revolutionary workers’ committees, each organisation retaining its independence, in a regional and eventual national alliance. This was to stand firm until a socialist federated society was achieved.

Such an alliance was only possible because of the supposed radicalisation of the socialists. Three years after the victory of the Left and the establishment of the Republic (1931) the Right had won the elections, and the PSOE and UGT began to talk about insurrection. They later admitted their rhetoric was the result of grassroots pressure. In Asturias the socialists were more revolutionary than elsewhere and the leadership closer to the people. This alliance would have been the key to success but in the rest of Spain there was no insurrection but a general strike.

The CNT in the whole of Spain was broadly in favour of an alliance but differed as to the timing. Many in the CNT, and also the FAI (Spanish Anarchist Federation), had doubts about its political implications, mistrusting the Socialists. But in Asturias, where 25-30,000 of the organised 80,000 workers belonged to the CNT (and sympathisers were put at a further 20 thousand) the other organisations combined were larger and (more importantly) not reformist as elsewhere. Even so, there were stormy arguments, not about the UGT but about the dubious role of the PSOE. The FAI would not join the Alliance, nor the La Felguera local Federation of the CNT. However, the FAI and the La Felguera CNT threw themselves wholeheartedly into the insurrection.

The local Communist Party had a hundred out of only 800 members in the whole of Spain. It discredited the alliance, as it offered no scope for it to assume leadership. At the last moment it applied for membership, doubtless on instructions from the USSR.

Preparations for Red October

The anarchists of La Felguera had a resounding victory during the Duro-Felguera strike of 1933, and there were strikes and actions across Asturias. A general strike (8th December 1933) was called by the CNT across Spain, with sabotage, bombs and attacks on the security forces. Accion Popular (the right wing party of Gil Robles) tried to mount a rally from Covadonga (extolled by patriots as the town where the expulsion of the Moors began). The workers’ alliance (under the watchword UHP, Proletarian Brothers United) had called a strike throughout the mining region, leaving the streets, strewn with nails, with no taxis, rail connections cut, sporadic sniping and so on. Such actions led to the October 1934 rising.

On 4th October it was announced that three CEDA (clerical-fascist) members were joining the government and the Socialist Party in Madrid called at last for a general strike.

The events of the Revolution

Early on 5th October the Guardia Civil barracks throughout the villages of Asturias were called upon to surrender, and then attacked. When they had been overcome, revolutionary groups were set up in Sama, La Felguera and Mieres to attack Oviedo, the provincial capital, where there had only been risings in one or two barrios, and where the government forces had seized strategic positions. On the 8th/9th October the Model Prison in Oviedo was stormed and found to contain a huge quantity of rifles and machine guns but no ammunition. However, the government troops were forced to retreat.

On 9th October Gijon was bombarded by the Regular Army and Navy as were other towns. Gijon fell on 11th October. On 12th October the enemy seized back most of Oviedo and a new front was established. Without ammunition, the Provincial Committee was forced to surrender. General Lopez Ochoa, commanding, demanded surrender of the weapons of the captive Guardia Civil and Guardia de Asalto, restoration of all arms, the lives of prisoners taken to be spared, and the committees to give themselves up. No shots were to be fired on the advancing troops. The committees’ conditions for workers to lay down their arms were for the Tercio and Regulares to be kept out of the mining towns and withdrawn from the front on account of their bloody reputation.

Ochoa agreed to these terms, and the Committee surrendered on condition that none of the committee were handed over. The agreement was read out to the population in Sama, who greeted it with cries of “treachery”. They refused to surrender, knowing how vicious the repression would be. They said they would sooner take to the hills. In the end it was accepted as inevitable and when the troops entered the town there came the harshest repression yet known in Asturias.

Ever since March 1934 the people of Gijon had been demanding part of the weaponry seized from the towns but they were denied by the Socialists who had possession. Nor were they given any reinforcements once the revolt got underway. This delayed the insurrection there. In the end the industrial workers and fishermen in the town took to the streets, but the Yague Column (foreign legionnaires and Moorish troops brought in via Ceuta by sea) put men, women and children alike to the sword.

Army Atrocities

General Lopez Ochoa led 25,000 troops against Asturias, but the orders came from generals Franco and Goded in Madrid. Ironically (in view of what Covadonga was supposed to mean) they had brought Moorish soldiers back to Spain to wipe out the people. As the troops advanced they encountered blown-up bridges and roads blocked by trees, even where the revolution had not broken out, showing the depth of support it had. In Grado the armed forces faced resistance from a small group of 400 that forced them back to Aviles.

However when the troops reached Oviedo, the generals had all the wounded in hospital rounded up and shot. They did not even enquire which side they were on. The prisoners were questioned and shot. A hundred held out on Monte Naranco. In flushing them out, a young girl, 16 year old Aida de la Fuente was killed. Her friend was wounded and raped before being murdered.

Revolutionary Conduct

All the Spanish historians, and even those who belittle the events, agree that in the anarcho-syndicalist areas like La Felguera, Ciano, Valdesoto and Gijon, there was greater respect and consideration shown to prisoners and clergy. During the struggle food was obtained by means of ration cards issued by the Supply Committee, determining allocation by family size. Foodstuffs were taken from warehouses and goods vans. All had access to them.

It is traditional for miners in Asturias to combine their toil with some gardening, so there was no shortage of milk and eggs in the hospitals. There are no large holdings there, only tiny holdings, so some way had to be found of obtaining meat without alienating the farmers. The committees bought in sheep from Extremadura shepherds, while in Pola de Laviana traders were paid for their foodstuffs. In these transactions, money (which had been abolished) was temporarily brought back. The Oviedo branch of the Bank of Spain was cleaned out.

Many fires were blamed on the “savagery of the miners” when in fact they were started by the military. In the case of the torching of the Campoamor Theatre in Oviedo, this was done by the revolutionaries, and had to be done to deprive the enemy of a vantage point. In this way, a nunnery had to be set on fire, though its residents were led to safety.

The committees

The War Committee attended to the distribution of materials and tactics. The Supply Committees allocated food and clothing to the villagers and fighters. There was also a Sanitary Committee, which managed the hospitals. In some cases medical supplies had to be manufactured: “staimant” splints for fractures were manufactured in Duro-Felguera. The Transport Committees in nearly every town had access to fifteen or twenty vehicles, while the Work Committees ensured the mines were kept in good order. Furnaces, which would be needed in a new society, were also kept in order. Telephone communications were restored or, where none had existed, introduced.

Repression

Once the rebels had surrendered, the police crackdown began. The signal was the ransacking of the Workers’ Athenaeum in Sama, with 500 books tossed on the flames.

The rubbish incinerator in Oviedo was burning for eight solid days burning bodies, including Aida and her female friend. By the end of October, 10 thousand people had been arrested, a third of them ending in prisons which had capacity for a couple of hundred.

Reasons For Failure

One might cite strategic oversights, the sectarianism of the Socialist leaders, lack of munitions, the deadly air raids, the failure of the Leon air base to rise in revolt, and of course the fact that in the rest of Spain, the rising held out for one or two days, at best amounting to a general strike and some sporadic shooting. But the fact is it could not have been otherwise.

The CNT and FAI, who enjoyed the sympathy of the Spanish workers, failed to throw themselves into the revolt in the rest of Spain because of the attitude of the PSOE, whose sole objective was to seize power and win back the support it lost among the workers due to its collaboration with the Primo de Rivera dictatorship (in which Socialist leaders like Largo Caballero had served) and its time-serving attitude under the Republic. The same might be said of the UGT.

In Catalonia the Generalitat declared an independent Catalan State. The Anarchists were alert and ready for a rising. But even as the new regional government was defying the national governments, anarchists were rounded up and jailed. The Generalitat’s council of defence declared “Watch out for the FAI”.

Anarcho-syndicalists could see the revolt there was nationalist and not revolutionary. Outside Catalonia the PSOE aimed only at a general strike, not a rising, a rebuke that was later put to it in Asturias. Anti-statist anarcho-syndicalism was not disposed to mount a rising that would simply be in the interests of a party and its trade union appendage. Only In Asturias did the proper conditions exist for the setting aside of past resentments and an insurrection in which all were united.

"Oh Council of Bastards", is a powerful song by Ultras Ahlawy against the Military rulers of Egypt. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) is responsible of several crimes committed against the civilian people of Egypt since the start of the January 25, revolution in 2011.
This video was filmed on April 2012 during activists' sit-in in front of the parliament, demanding justice for victims of the "Port Said massacre".
We do not forget SCAF crimes.
We do not forgive SCAF crimes.
SCAF should fear us, as we know our rights and are ready to die for it.
Our revolution is peaceful and we will continue our struggle no matter what is the cost. Freedom is not for free.

Spanish miners will begin a march on Madrid this week as they escalate their ongoing protests against moves by Mariano Rajoy's austerity government to slash subsidies to the coal industry.

Unions have claimed the entire industry is in danger, and miners have engaged in violent encounters with police in pit towns in the northern region of Asturias over the past three weeks.

On Monday a general strike hit mining communities in Asturias, Leon, Galicia and Aragon. The miners have been on strike for three weeks in an attempt to force the government to negotiate.

Clashes have taken place almost daily, with miners saying they have nothing left to lose. They have shot firework rockets at police lines, and plumes of thick black smoke have become commonplace where tyres have been set alight to block roads.

Police have responded with teargas and baton charges. Three journalists and four police officers were injured near a pit in El Entrego on Friday.

"I'm not going back to work until a solution is found to this," one masked miner told television cameras. "If that means I have to sack myself, well then I will."

Subsidies to the coal industry are one of the major casualties of the austerity measures brought in by the conservative Rajoy government, which took power in December.

Next year's budget includes a 63% cut in subsidies given to the mostly loss-making mines. That will save Spain €190m as it seeks to cut its budget deficit and reduce its borrowing needs at a time when it is having increasing difficulty raising loans at sustainable interest rates.

The cuts put at risk 8,000 mining jobs and thousands more that depend on their salaries. "This town will die," complained a shop owner in Langreo.

In a country where unemployment is already 24% – and more than 50% among the under-25s – many miners fear they have no chance of finding alternative work in the foreseeable future. They want Spain's government to keep subsidies going until 2018, which is the limit placed on them by the European Union.

More than a dozen miners have locked themselves into three mineshafts in Asturias and Leon, with the longest protest already in its fourth week.

Protesters have used rockets, stones, nuts and bolts in their running battles with police. Up to 60 roads have been blocked in a single day, as well as local train lines.

Government officials have warned that the miners will be held responsible for any future clashes. "Whenever the police are obliged to intervene it is because a situation of risk has already been created," said the government delegate to Asturias, Gabino de Lorenzo. "Responsibility for whatever may occur lies firmly in the hands of those who create these situations."

Trade unions have denounced the violence. "We are not responsible for these sort of actions, which are the exception and should not be repeated," said the local branch of the Workers Commissions.

Miners argue that Spain's limited energy resources mean the country must keep the mines open to protect itself against future shocks and price rises in the global energy market.

"If the current proposal is not changed the closure of mining and the paralysis in the reactivation of the local economy will have a major impact on our energy policy, as coal is a strategic sector for a country with a huge dependency on energy imports," a spokesman for the Asturias mining branch of the General Workers Union said.

The region's socialist prime minister, José Ángel Fernández Villa, is sympathetic. "Neither Asturias nor Spain can allow themselves to do without coal for reasons that are at once strategic, social and regional," he said.

But talks between miners and the industry ministry have broken up amid growing rage against Rajoy's government. A suited dummy of the prime minister could be seen hanging from one of the towers at Caborana mine near Oviedo on Monday.

One hundred miners will set out walking from pit towns around the country on Friday, unions leaders announced on Tuesday. Their march is expected to take several weeks and will end with a mass demonstration in the Spanish capital.

The last time protesting miners visited Madrid there were police baton charges after they let off detonators outside the industry ministry. "Next time we will be back with dynamite," some chanted.

Ciñera miners have reported the use of illegal weapons by the troops who invaded the village the past days. Taser guns, batons with extendable metal and pepper gas canisters were added to the firing of tear gas and rubber bullets.